


JR, Killer

by run_jhope_run



Category: NU'EST
Genre: Betrayal, M/M, Murder-Suicide, Other, Plague, Trans Male Character, authoritarian state, this is from ages ago
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2015-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-28 15:40:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 14,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5096072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/run_jhope_run/pseuds/run_jhope_run
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lola gets sucked into the dangerous world of murder, plague and betrayal by the mysterious JR.</p>
<p>I wrote this starting with when I first got into kpop (the day after) and that was a year and a half ago. So please don't judge me. I have tried to revise it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted on Wattpad @rememberremember

Why am I at a loose end? I asked myself, glaring angrily at the dictionary although it had done nothing wrong. Truth was, even flicking through my favourite baby names book wouldn't help today.

I just couldn't think of a plotline.

I needed two characters, only two, to at least to get that story going somewhere. I needed a fabulous plot, with twists and turns and ... nah, it was never going to happen.

I imagined myself somewhere else. Somewhere with ... snow and ... oh this is hopeless, I sighed. Nothing is going to work today.

Even talking to my friends was pointless because none of them were online. Or had been. For several months.

I needed a new world.

That sounds silly, doesn't it, being in the New World. It was supposed to be new and exciting, but it still had half the problems the Old World had. We weren't supposed to talk about the Old World, or read books on it or anything. I guess that the government thought we would make the same mistakes as all the wars.

Peace is enforced here.

That's not peaceful.

I stared out of the window at the street below. Scrubbed, and painted white, it looked just like any other. It was empty apart from a lone IPF officer, patrolling by the park.

The park was...boring. Paving stones, pine trees and weeds. You'd think that in the New World all parks would be interesting and kept perfectly clean.

A poster fell down from the gate: please tidy up after yourself.

I watched the officer for a while. He wasn't doing anything interesting, just pacing and inspecting things. I couldn't quite see from my window what ranking he was, but I reckoned three or four. Low rankings.

Four shadows loomed out of the darkness of the park and surrounded the officer, in his green uniform. A thud, and the officer lay still on the ground and one of the shadows - obviously a person - held a baton.

The shadows were young men dressed in black and pink gang clothes with chains looping out of their trousers. They advanced up the street, towards me, yelling words in a language I didn't understand. Their faces were shrouded in masks and balaclavas and I shivered when they went under the streetlight. They were pale as ice.

The heavy breathing in the room stopped. I looked down to see our Korean lodger, JR, who had been sleeping on the floor. He was no longer asleep, and he seemed afraid.

He didn't say a word, but moved to the window and scanned the road. Seeing the other young men, he retracted from the glass a little, but kept watching.

JR had turned up on our doorstep a few months ago, with no explanation. He was nervous - twitchy even - but soon became a part of our lives.

I lived with my mother and father, who remembered the Old World but were bound by law not to speak of it. JR became something of a brother.

He had one rule, though. One day, when he'd only been with us a week, I was listening to music in my room. I was using an old mp3 player, and had Taylor Swift playing. She wasn't great, but I didn't have that many tracks.

JR burst in, and saw the music player. He grabbed it and turned it off, and shouted at me, "you can't listen to that!"

He sunk to the floor, repeating, "not that, not music, can't do that ..."

I never got to finish the CD.

Life moved on. I knew he was touchy about music.

"JR," I whispered.

He flipped his head around.

"What is it? Who are they?" I asked.

"I've got to leave," he said, getting off of the armchair. "I can't stay here."

"Why?" I caught his arm. "Is it to do with them?"

He shook me off and walked down the stairs. "I can't tell you, Lola."

I followed him. "Come on, don't leave me."

My mum appeared at the top of the stairs. "What are you doing?"

JR pulled on his coat. "Thank you for everything," he said. "I need to leave."

"Can't you at least stay until the morning?" she persisted. "You need to pack and I can make up some food."

He paused, with jacket half-on. "I'll stay until dawn," he resigned.

Dawn came, and we had to say goodbye to JR. He tried not to make a big scene, but he looked secretly pleased at the attention. Then he glanced at the door and his expression turned hard.

I hugged him, and he bore it for a moment before pushing me away. "I'll see you, yes?"

I didn't trust what he said, because the look he gave me told me something else. He didn't want to do whatever he had to do. He didn't want to leave.

He left.

That day - it was Fifthday - I couldn't concentrate in school. We had pages of equations to finish, but I found them easy enough.

Despite strict rules on racism, the Indian girls still tripped me up in the corridors. Just because I'm white.

When I got home again, the street was closed at both ends and IPF cars were everywhere. I went up to the barrier. "I'm sorry, I have to get through, I live here," I said, trying to push through.

"She says she lives here," the officer I'd been speaking to called to his colleagues. "Young lady, did you see or hear anything last night?"

Somewhere in the back of my mind I could hear JR telling me, willing me, not to say anything.

"No, sir."

"You didn't wake in the night, or have disturbed sleep?"

"No, sir, I am a heavy sleeper." And a great liar, it seemed. He looked like he believed me.

"Alright." He sighed. "We'll be telephoning you to ask for a statement soon. You can go through." He lifted the DO NOT CROSS line.

I walked past fast. The IPF were evil, surely he should have been cuffing me and taking me down to the station.

The IPF officer I'd seen last night had been taken away. He'd been found too late to save, and the four men I'd seen had become murderers.

I thought about telling my parents, when we ate together. My dad was a children's book illustrator, my mum a writer. I took after my mum a lot more. She stood up for people's rights too.

"What do you think happened last night?" Mum said. She quickly exchanged a glance with my dad.

"Yeah, I was going to ask you," I said, spearing peas, "what did happen?" Playing dumb.

They both seemed to breathe out. "I ... we ... thought you'd know something," Dad explained.

"Why does everyone seem to think I know about it?" I still had my innocent voice on.

"Oh, we've been harassed by the IPF as well, you know. Maybe a little less than you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I snapped. "Why would they have a problem with me?"

Another glance. This was not good.

"Lola, dear," Mum tried to calm me down. "Some things ... I mean ... kids these days are always getting in trouble. They ... they just want to ask people about the murder of that nice IPF officer."

I suddenly had a feeling that someone was listening to our conversation. I mouthed listening devices? to Mum. She nodded a tiny amount. "Mum, why kids?"

My dad cleared his throat. "Lola, sit down." I wasn't aware I'd stood up. "Sometimes kids are a bit different to you. They don't come from nice families like you do. They go a bit funny sometimes and do things that you and I know are wrong."

"Like kill people?"

"Yes."

"And does this have anything to do with JR's disappearance this morning?"

"Lola, shut up!" both of my parents yelled. Bother. I'd forgotten about the bugs.

"JR went back to his aunt in Canada who is getting married, you knew that," Mum said clearly.

"I forgot," I said. "When is he coming back?"

Dad cut in. "If everything works out he's going to live there."

I sifted through a few papers in the hall, as was my custom after dinner. Bills, bills, rude notes from Mum's editor ...

A piece of paper, tucked second from last in the pile, was in my hands. I looked down at it and saw it was handwritten, not typed. That handwriting was JR's.

I shook as I read it. Maybe it'd explain at least something.

'Lola,

It's a gamble leaving this note here, but I hope it reaches you before your parents.

Tell no one, trust no one. I'll meet you tonight on Pollymore Avenue at eight o'clock. There we either part ways forever, or you come with me.

JR x

p.s it's always okay to be scared.'


	2. Two

I left the house at quarter to, determined to not miss him. Pollymore Avenue was only a short walk away. Its real name was 51/67/10 but some Old World names remained.

The streets were dark, and I had to climb a stairwell and scramble over several roofs to get past the IPF, who were still guarding either end of my road. My feet slipped over the tiles, and I held my breath, wondering when they would look up and arrest me. Several minutes passed, and I decided they hadn’t noticed. I continued.

Once I got to 49/67/10 I dropped the metre onto another stairwell (49/67/10 was a row of shops) and raced down. I checked my watch. 7:57.

JR was different. He was wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans, and his face looked serious. He didn’t look at all like the boy I’d met in Twelthmonth.

“Did you bring your laptop?” were his first words.

I indicated the rucksack I’d hurriedly packed. “Yes. JR--"

“If you’re gonna come with me, you’ll need it.” He spoke quietly. “You’re already a minute late, we have less time than I thought.”

“What--" I was cut off once again.

“Yes, it had something to do with those boys last night. No, I’m not going to tell you what. If you come with me, maybe I will tell you, but your life is in danger anyway.” He paused for breath. “You know me. That’s your death sentence.”

I swallowed. “You’re not making any sense.”

“Stay here, and you’ll die for sure. Come with me, you might live.” JR stuck his hands in his pockets. I’d never seen him do that before, but it seemed like he’d done it all his life. Little gestures. He certainly wasn’t himself.

“I was going to go with you anyway,” I said. “I want answers, JR. What’s Christmas?”

He shook his head. “We’re not supposed to talk about it.”

“I found a book about it.”

This time it was me he was shaking. “Where? When? You destroyed it, I hope!”

“It’s in the pond in the park. Christmas looks fun.”

“You’re too young,” he sighed. “It was still around when I was about three. You give presents and it’s got something to do with hay and a baby.”

I screwed my eyes shut. “Religion,” I said. “Where people worship something. That doesn’t exist anymore, does it?”

“It does.” The light in JR’s eyes was back. “Although we’re brainwashed and constantly watched, some people manage to keep a spark of religion in the ... secular society.”

“Did you ... ever go to these meetings?”

“Once.” The light faded as fast as it had come. “We have to keep moving, Lola.”

We walked to 02/67/10. 67 was a main road, and the first numbers correlated to the roads leading off of 67. When we had reached 02/67/10, JR held out a hand. We were on the boundary between Districts 10 and 9. A few more metres and a three-metre tall wall topped with barbed wire and surrounded by buzzing electric fences on both sides would greet us.

“You want to get over?” I asked, and JR nodded. “You must be crazy, this is the second most secure in the county.” The first had guards, either ex-IPF or Met officers, or mad dogs. Or both.

It was then I noticed him pulling out of his pocket a pair of fluorescent green gloves. They looked to be dyed leather. He put them on and I stared. He was definitely not the JR I knew - he was going to climb over the Wall?

“How are you going to do it?” I wondered aloud.

He walked over to a garage - only there from lack of money, cars were illegal - and pulled the door up. A cloth covered a shape in the middle of the room. JR pulled it off, and we both stood, admiring the glory of a motorbike.

“How did you get this?” I said.

JR glanced at me. “I have contacts. Get on.”

We mounted the bike. “No helmets?” I asked.

“Lola, we don’t need them. Shut up.”

I almost screamed when he started the engine; it was like there was a beast under me. I wrapped my arms around his chest, and braced myself.

JR drove out of the garage. Turned right, turned left, up a ramp at an impossible speed.

There was a bone-shattering crash as we hit the ground on the other side. I felt like I had left myself miles behind. I reached out for ground or sky or something, and found JR’s hands. They were soft and strong, and I clung on.

“Never done that before, then?” he half-laughed, but with kindness in his eyes. “I thought that was a pretty good landing.”

I tried to focus on his face, but I was shaking too hard. “Am I dead?” I asked, weakly.

He shook his head, and his hair brushed my cheek. “No.”

I pushed myself off the white tarmac carefully, and looked around at District 9. It looked exactly like District 10. Two-storey buildings with white-washed walls - greying in the twilight - were in rows and rows. Everything was empty.

JR stood up and wheeled the motorbike towards a patch of grass. He set it rolling, then it hit a tree and burst into flames.

“Why did it do that?” I asked.

“There was something in the Old World that made cars go, and it was flammable,” JR tried to explain. “But it was running out, so we use other stuff nowadays.”

We had no knowledge of District 9, even though it was so close. We had separate hospitals, schools and shops. The shops were all independent - there were no chain stores or multi-national ones.

“So, you gonna tell us what we’re doing, riding a motorbike and leaving home?” I said, as we strode side by side.

“No.” JR moved closer to me. “But you must never tell the IPF, or anyone in fact, who we are. We have to become somebody else.”

I briefly wondered if playing travellers would work...then I remembered the government’s ‘clean-up’ programme last year. “JR ... what do you want to be called?”

“JR,” he said, as if it were obvious. “But if we have to, we can make up things on the spot. What...what did you say to your parents?” He suddenly seemed awkward. “You didn’t tell them you were running away with me, did you?”

“I left a note,” I said. “Just saying goodbye.”

He grinned. “They’ll probably think we’ve eloped or something.”

I went mortifyingly red, but pushed him away. “Eww! As if we would!”

“Come on, keep walking.”

I had no idea how the roads were numbered, but we kept walking until we hit a town centre. The regular blocks of houses were broken with random, tall buildings filled with...stuff. Food, clothes; it was obvious how different our towns were. The fashions were shown in the windows, and they were bright and colourful, like something JR would wear.

“Is this where you come from?” I asked, but he shook his head.

“Don’t talk about that.”

There was another different thing. A man sat in the doorway of a shop, huddled down in blankets and newspapers that were out of print. Beggars and vagrants were shot in our district.

JR put an arm out to protect me as we passed him, but I stopped, and gave the man some bread from my bag. After all, it wasn’t his fault.

In the houses that we walked by, some of the lights were on. There wasn’t really that much to do, unless you had an artistic skill. Art was not important in today’s culture, as much as leisure time. Only novels, novels like my mother and I wrote, were important. We could write about anything; no one cared.

I repressed a sob. JR glanced at me. “Alright?”

I didn’t answer.

“There’s an empty house up here,” he lead the way up a road.

“How did you know?” I frowned.

JR rubbed the back of his neck. “I...um...used to do a bit of hacking, myself.”

I knew better than to ask him more.

I think I’d better give a quick description of JR here. He had black hair over his dark, deliberative eyes. He was tall, maybe three inches taller than me. He had a serious expression often, but his laugh was contagious and he loved tickling me when he was in a good mood.

I stopped abruptly. Why was I listening to my thoughts?

“Are you sure you’re okay?” JR was staring at me.

I checked myself. “You don’t have to worry all the time, you know.”

“Oh come on, I do care about you,” he rolled his eyes. “Why else would I have asked you to come? I also happen to know you love adventures.”

“Where’s this empty house?” I asked, cutting across him.

The house was the same as the others. White, two-storey, laid out exactly the same as mine. The colour scheme was different; purples and yellows instead of the calming oranges we had. I gulped at the sight.

“You know what this kind of government is called?” JR said, when we sat cross-legged on the floor (there were no chairs).

I glanced around. Yes, I did, but what if they were listening to us?

“Hey, don’t worry,” JR grinned. “We can say what we like here. My friends made sure it was clean before we came.”

“Friends?” I hadn’t meant it to come out like that, but somehow I was surprised. JR had never had friends, as far as I’d seen. He’d avoided coming to my school, and never talked to anyone when we went to the shops with our rationing coupons.

He leant across now, and found some food in my bag. “I’m starving, I haven’t eaten all day.” I watched him munch for a while, then he said, “the government?”

“Authoritarian Communist.”

“Correct.” JR seemed pleased. “And what does that mean?”

“Whatever your job, you get the same amount of money and food. And it’s strongly enforced.” I found some biscuits. “That way everyone is the same.”

JR let a smile fall on his lips. “It sounds like a good thing, doesn’t it? It isn’t. Everyone has to do the same. We’re all brainwashed!” He waved his hands in the air. “It’s a dictatorship, the worst kind of government. No one is brave enough to stand up to them, so they control us.”

“I know all this, JR,” I said, slowly. “I’m not stupid - I know there is freewill somewhere.”

“Not in this country!” he growled.

“Korea?” I asked. I felt stupid, but geography was banned in schools. All we learnt there was how to protect the environment.

JR shook his head. “North Korea is just as bad...was. Was just as bad when I left. That’s not where I come from, though. I come from South Korea, which was, as far as I know, liberal.”

“Do you want to talk about it now?”

“No. I want you to talk about yourself.”

I looked at him. “You practically know everything about me.”

“No, I don’t.” JR bit his lip. “Why don’t you have friends?”

“I do.” I paused. “I think I do. I mean, I did.”

“What does that mean?”

I rested a hand against my forehead. “I don’t know where they are. I had two friends, Greer and Indigo. We’d known each other forever...and told each other everything…” I suddenly sneezed. It was my way of covering up a sob - but the lump in my throat was still growing. “And then one day they disappeared. Both of them.”

“I’m so sorry,” JR touched my shoulder. “I think you should keep talking.”

“Where were they taken? You know everything…” I hadn’t spoken about my friends since Ninthmonth, when they left.

He couldn’t meet my eyes. “There are...places…” He dropped the processed cheese he was eating and went to the window.

“Criminal camps.”

“Something like that.” JR didn’t look away from the street. “You’re young--"

“I’m sixteen.”

“Just a bit young to remember the Old World.”

I kicked out at the wall. “So you’re older than me, and you remember. You don’t have to keep reminding me! Tell me about the Old World so I can know!”

“Calm down,” JR spun round. “Okay, okay, I’ll tell you. Sit down.” I sat. “There were cars and motorbikes which puffed out bad gases. There were people roaming the streets and some lived on the streets because selfish people stole their money. There were rich people and schools that you had to pass tests to get into, and some where you had to pay.”

“Did fathers ever look after babies?” I asked. “Not just mothers.”

“Yes! All the time.”

“JR,” I looked down at my hands. “How old are you?”

He gritted his teeth. “What’s the date?”

“The seventh of Sixthmonth. It’s a Sixthday.”

“I’ll turn nineteen tomorrow then.” JR frowned. “That can’t be right. June is Sixthmonth, yeah, maybe I am almost nineteen.”

I was confused yet again. “June? Is that an Old World word?”

“Yeah, I had to avoid using them.”

“How do you know so much about the Old World?”

“I left Korea when I was your age. South Korea was still very, very Old World.” JR seemed to want to talk about it. But then he shut his eyes, blocking out the memories. “I’m going to try to sleep now.”

The room my parents used as a study and where we all slept had a bed - in our house we had a bed too, but I slept on the floor. I laid my head on the pillow and looked at the stars.

Half an hour passed, but sleep still eluded me.

I heard a knock at the door, and JR appeared. “Can’t sleep either?” he said, as a statement. He lay down next to me, up on the bed, and soon I heard heavy breathing.

Somehow I was reassured by the fact that he had a kitchen knife to hand.


	3. Three

When I woke, JR was on the floor too. I think he rolled in his sleep.

I looked out of the window. In the light I could see what a rough estate District 9 was. There were bars over most of the windows along the street, and coloured drawings and political messages scrawled over some of the buildings.

I understood why it was empty now.

The residents must have been taken.

Political uprisings.

People thought I was stupid, that I didn’t know what was going on, but I did. Ignorance was my cover. I read illegal books about the Old World. History books about Hitler and Stalin. My own novels, obviously never to be in print ever, were packed full of politics.

JR thought I was stupid.

I glanced at him, lying asleep on the floor. He finally looked peaceful.

I picked up the knife he’d taken with him. Now I could defend myself.

It was Sixthday - no work - but the streets were still too quiet. I knew that there were people living out there, I’d seen the lights the night before. Then a knock came on the front door.

I crouched low to the ground, shaking JR gently. Visitors...most likely not welcome ones.

“Open up!” A call came from outside.

“JR, wake up,” I hissed.

His eyes flicked open, then narrowed when he heard more calling.

“We know you’re in there!”

I crept to the window, despite JR’s arm out to stop me.

The four boys were there. I could see at a glance that two had black hair, two blonde. One was calling in English, the others in...was that Korean?

I glanced at JR for confirmation, and he ducked his head shamefully.

“Bad?” I mouthed.

He grabbed my hand and propelled us through the house.

“We’re going to come in, ready or not!” The persistent voice outside shouted. “Ten, nine…”

JR was moving so fast I barely had to get my rucksack. We were down the stairs, avoiding the front door pane, and out of the kitchen door before the counting finished. We opened the gate and sprinted through the next house.

“I...can’t...breathe…” I panted, after we’d got a few roads away.

JR leant against a wall, checking around the corner. “They’re still following us.”

He scrambled to the top of the wall and offered a hand to me. Together we ran over the roofs again, gasping and stumbling.

The boys were fast, but we had the benefit of height and we knew where we were going. I twisted my ankle on some tiles - our journey was over the ridge of the roofs - but JR pulled me up.

“Keep going, Lola,” he wheezed.

It was then more than ever I wished I was a long-distance runner like Georgi Taylor, a girl at school. I flopped down on the roof next to JR, where he had collapsed, out of breath. I put an arm over his head, ducking him down as the boys passed underneath. They were still wearing the balaclavas.

“They gone?” JR finally said, weakly.

“Yeah, it’s okay.” I let his head raise. “You alright...JR?” I was still breathing irregularly, but I could feel his heart rate slowing down.

He held a couple of fingers to his neck and counted, then put them on my neck. “Yours is still quite fast,” he commented. “Let’s rest for a few moments more.”

“You...going to explain?” I tried to sound cross, but it didn’t work. “About them, I m-mean.”

“What would you like to know?”

“What’s your connection to them? Who are they, anyway? Why are they coming after you - after us?” The questions came flooding in once I’d started.

JR buried his face in his hands. “Lola, you’ll find out the answers to two of those questions soon enough...but for now understand this.” He took hold of my shoulders and was almost nose to nose with me. “They are very dangerous. Don’t be tricked by them; don’t go near them.”

“You think I’m stupid.” I glared at him. “I know more than you think!”

“Okay, little Miss Know-It-All,” he said sarcastically. “Where do we go now?”

“Along the roofs, back the way we came, down at the stairwell and go right.”

He rolled his eyes. “And why right?”

“Because we’ll run along parallel to them.”

He bowed. “I have trained you well.”

We stepped carefully, our intention on making no noise rather than speed. JR went first, and made sure that it was safe for me to stand.

“Why would I be killed if I stayed...back home?” I asked him, stepping round a chimney.

JR turned around. “Lola, I don’t know how to say this...but your parents...that would have been their first stop.”

My eyes widened, and he continued. “Unless they decided that, for some reason or other, thought that hiding me for five months was acceptable…” He shook his head. “Maybe they never found the house, and it was just an unlucky coincidence that they ended up on the same road...I don’t know, Lola.”

“Shut up!” I hit his shoulder as hard as I could. It was a useless, feeble gesture. I was weak. I didn’t care right now. I waited. “You still haven’t told me why.”

“Lola, I can’t say!” Now he was raising his voice. “They just don’t like me, okay?”

“Is that why they traced you back from Korea?” I raised my eyebrows.

JR smiled sadly. “You picked up on that then?”

“What about the one speaking English?”

“He is...half-American.” He lowered his head.

“So you know them well?” I refused his hand as we jumped between garages. “JR, I hate you keeping secrets from me. We’ve got to trust each other!” I wasn’t finished. “And what’s all this got to do with the IPF? Why are they after you as well?”

He covered his ears. “You’d hate me if I told you. You’d hate me if you found out. I’m a mess.” He suddenly stopped walking, and I bumped into him.

JR sat down again and gulped water to stop his eyes welling up.

I stood awkwardly watching him. I didn’t know what to do with him...a couple of years ago I would have held him, but I hadn’t hugged anyone since the day Greer and Indigo disappeared. They would have tried, but I didn’t want that. I didn’t need physical contact anymore.

JR held out a hand - he’d taken the stupid green gloves off ages ago - and grabbed mine. “I need you to just trust me. Trust me completely. Without asking for answers.”

“I’m not just some weak girl,” I spat, but I found that it was incredibly hard to be bitter when he pulled that face.

It started raining hard, all of a sudden. “Way to spoil the mood,” JR laughed. He shook out his dripping hair and wiped his eyes. “Come on, let’s see if they sell food anywhere around here.”

After a good hour on the roofs, we decided that it was safe enough to get to the ground. Even then, I went first to check. There was absolutely nobody around. I sprinted up and down the street, then went back to JR.

We went to the high street first. Most of the shops were ransacked and empty. The man was still sitting in his doorway. There was one shop open, blaring music across the road. JR glanced at me. It was a café. Surely they couldn’t get much business in the lonely neighbourhood.

We walked in. There were leather seats, and it was empty except for a young woman at the counter.

“Hello! What would you like?” the woman opened her arms delightedly.

JR went to the counter and asked for the prices of milkshakes.

“Hey, I’m going to use the loo,” I called.

The back passage was brilliantly lit. I went into the bathroom and splashed my face with water. I looked at myself in the mirror. Ash blonde hair fell in untidy locks past my shoulders. I was gonna cut it all off soon. Then-- what was that behind me?

The door to the corridor opened. I tensed, waiting for JR or the café owner. It was a boy with short black hair and a brown jacket. No one I’d seen before. High cheekbones, a face slowly turning into a smile that met his dark eyes.

“Hi, am I in the wrong toilets?” he asked, smiling constantly. “I’m Aron, by the way.”

I bit my lip inside. This guy, I didn’t know who he was, could do anything. He could be anyone.

“Yeah, these are the ladies’,” I said. I could smile, however reassuring he looked. “Lola.”

“Lola. That’s a beautiful name,” he sighed.

I squinted at him. “Okay, Aron.”

“Maybe we could get to know each other better?” I expected him to lead me to the front shop, but he gently pushed me towards a back room. We sat.

“So what are you doing in District 9?” he asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to say - IPF stands for Infinite Police Force.


	4. Four

Aron kept questioning me, slowly and carefully. I didn’t give much away, especially not about JR and the mysterious boys who we kept seeing.

Even though I was sure he was just trying to get information off me, he was desperately trying to make me believe him. I knew I should go back to the front shop, grab JR and get out of District 9. I didn’t really know who he was, or what he was trying to get out of me.

“Excuse me,” I said, standing up.

I walked as quickly as I could back to the main room. He watched after me. I was slightly unnerved, so by the time I saw JR again, waiting with milkshakes, I leant against the wall and groaned.

“What’s wrong?” JR was on his feet.

“This guy...Aron...I don’t know...” I held my head.

“Aron?” JR said quietly. “Oh, Lola, you idiot. We have to get out.”

As we jogged through the quiet streets, I turned to him. “Why? Aron wasn’t one of those--"

I stopped. JR was nodding. Aron had been after him, had turned up in the night and scared him, had almost broken the door down this morning and now? He was trying to get me on his side.

“How could they?” I asked. “I’m betting they’ve got people everywhere we might go.”

“For once, I think you’re right,” JR said, as we ran past a park where a hooded figure sat.

“You don’t suppose...the reason this district is empty is because of them?”

“No. There has been political unrest here. The government just decided to ‘deal with it’.” JR’s lip curled. “It’s not even helped.”

“What do you mean?” I fired at him. “Helped what, JR?”

“Do you really know nothing?” he yelled. “You trust Aron, you don’t know about what’s happening everywhere else...seriously!”

I grabbed hold of his shirt and pulled him back. “I did happen to live in District 10, where media coverage is about nil!” I growled. “And for your information, I didn’t trust Aron.” I composed myself. “Let’s just get out of here.”

We spent the rest of the day - it was almost noon - travelling north-east, towards the boundary between District 17 and 9. We had to keep turning back on ourselves, to keep Aron and the rest off our trail. We were both frustrated with each other, and this got rid of it.

“I’m sorry,” JR finally said, as we neared the next boundary wall.

I gave him an exhausted smile. “How are we going to get over this time? And do you know where we’re going to stay?”

“No. I have no idea what’s over there, but I have a feeling the security is a bit more...secure than District 9. I couldn’t break through the firewalls.”

I didn’t know the extent of JR’s hacking skills, but he’d got into District 9 and 10’s systems easily enough. “So...getting over the wall?”

“Well,” JR glanced left and right. “Do you see any IPF officers? We’re going to climb.”

The barbed wire that had topped the last wall had been replaced with comparably friendly metal spikes, like you’d find in a park. The wall itself was cracked in several places, and covered in graffiti. I touched it, checking out weak spots or traps.

JR put his hands together, and motioned for me to stand on them.

“Should I go first then?” I stepped onto his interlocked fingers. “Are you sure you’re strong enough?”

“Just do it quickly,” he said, wincing.

I put my full weight on his hands, used his head to steady myself, and was on top of the wall in no time. I didn’t look over, but leant down and helped JR up. We crouched on the wall, panting a little, and gazed over District 17.

JR covered his mouth to stop himself swearing. “H-how...this town…” he couldn’t find the words.

I never liked District 10. It was my home, but it was far too strict. No books, no swimming and no skipping chores. Here, you’d be lucky to breathe. I counted seven IPF officers patrolling the street below - armed officers - and it was a surprise that they hadn’t spotted us already.

The houses were tall buildings, with cell-like apartments. As we watched, a woman jumped from her window. She was only two floors up, but she lay still. Maybe she was pretending to be dead.

There was screaming, children’s voices crying out, and spot lights ran across the ground. Sirens blared.

A man with tattoos over his arms and neck came up to us. “Come down, lady!” he called to me, and lifted me down. I didn’t scream, but I felt like it, being carried through the noise and danger and, now, fire. Somehow though, the man wasn’t IPF. He wasn’t Aron or the others chasing JR. That made him safe.

I was lowered into a vehicle. Hands grabbed my mouth, willing me not to make a sound. The man who’d carried me sat down and we started moving.

It was dark, but once my eyes got used to the gloom I could see a dozen people crammed into the small space with me. They were all wide-eyed teenagers, some as young as ten, sitting alongside the man with tattoos.

He nodded at me. “Got used to the dark, lady?” he asked.

I hugged my knees.

“It’s okay, my lady,” he said. “You on the run too?” Without giving me time to answer, he continued. “I’m Barney, these are my children.”

He couldn’t have been more than thirty. I cleared my throat. “Why do you call me lady? I’m Lola. And who are the children?”

“They don’t have parents.” Barney scanned them, scrutinising them. “They are sewer rats.”

I felt a horrible taste in my mouth. The poor children - and how could Barney be criticising them?

“They’re not really,” Barney laughed. “Well, they don’t have parents, but at least they don’t have to live in a sewer. I look after them. Apart from this one here.” he poked a short, fat boy in the ribs. “This is Calamity Jane.”

“I’m Alexander,” the boy replied, before Barney cuffed him round the ear.

“Yeah, but we have an Alex already, innit?” he pointed at a thin, tanned girl, about thirteen, with piercings, who saluted him. “So this is Jane.”

“So why have you got Calamity Jane with you?” I wondered.

Barney sat back to the wall. “Jane is our hostage. Comes from some rich family in the next district, who’ll pay us anything to have him back. Don’t know why, though.”

I felt a bit sorry for Jane, until he started pushing the other children around.

“Did you get my friend?” I asked. I’d noticed JR wasn’t in the vehicle either.

“They might be coming in another van. We didn’t see anyone else,” Alex pulled a brush roughly through her hair, but she seemed uncertain. “And before you ask, we’re going to the coast. There’s a way out of the country, to Gaul.”

Gaul. France.

A way out of this place, the rules, the regulations. A way to freedom.

I wanted JR.

I wanted to know what he was on the run for, wanted to know where he was...and why he wouldn’t talk about the boys after him.

I never thought about the future, not really. Since that IPF officer had been murdered in the middle of the night, I hadn’t put a thought to anything other than how to survive. Now, I imagined being old and frail, telling my grandchildren about ‘the war’.

Barney handed me coffee - generally an illegal substance due to its mood-changing qualities - and I sipped. Why do they ban this? I thought.

“Tell me about this friend,” he suggested.

I warmed my hands on the mug. “He’s called JR...he used to be our lodger.”

“Why are you travelling with him? You’re obviously too posh for a place like this.”

“Because someone killed an officer in our street.” I hadn’t meant to say that, but it was too late now. “JR was scared...so we ran off together.”

Alex nodded. Jane was less sure. “Does he know you have feelings for him?”

“I don’t!” I snapped my fingers under his nose, impatient, but kept talking anyway. “We’re just friends, seriously, I don’t have time to think about that sort of stuff.”

“Why else would you go with him wherever he wants?”

I was the scared one. I was scared for my parents, for myself and of JR. He worried me. I couldn’t know what he would do next.

I didn’t want him to get hurt. Aron seemed to really hate him, and I was sure if JR had the chance he’d slit Aron’s throat. And probably vice versa.

The driver poked his face through the curtain separating us and him. “We’re almost at the port, keep it down back there.”

Immediately, all of the children and Barney opened the crates they were sitting on, covered themselves with blankets and cloths, generally hiding. Alex beckoned for me to hide under a blanket with her, and we lay still.

The van bumped along the road and stopped. The driver exchanged friendly words with the IPF officers at the gate. “Can we look in your van?” they asked. Suddenly it didn’t sound like a question at all.

“I do have a license to have this and all,” the driver said. “It’s just toothpaste, you can see.” He reached behind the seats and got a tube of toothpaste. He looked wild and desperate.

“We have to check your van,” one of the officers repeated, and the others flung open the back doors.


	5. Five

They found Jane first. He was only half-covered and whimpering.

With a cry, the officers ripped off sheets here and there, finding us all. My blood jumped when they pulled back our cloth. Alex was quiet, but the rest were screaming. Barney was trying to protect the youngest two, shielding them with his body until he was wrenched away.

Yet again, I felt myself being carried, struggling this time, away from something I knew. This time I could see more as there weren’t flashing lights. I saw a great expanse of water, stretching beyond my vision in the night; I saw boats and sand and everything I’d dreamt of.

I let out a scream as Jane’s flailing feet kicked my side. It would have been wonderful to go down to the sea, instead I was away from JR, away from my parents and everything I loved. The officer carrying me was tall, and he had me around my waist. My feet were lifted off the ground, and no matter how hard I wriggled out I couldn’t feel anything.

I felt a blow to the head, and nothing more.

~~~

When I came round, I was on a cold, damp floor and there were several bodies next to me. I started breathing shallowly and fast - did they think I was dead too, and had put me in the mortuary?

Then I saw one moving, and realised I was not alone. Alex sat up, rubbing her forehead where a mark had appeared. She swore loudly, and made her way unsteadily towards me.

I was learning a lot of new words.

“Lola, you okay?” she asked, kneeling next to me. “My head hurts,” she complained.

Slowly, one by one, the others in the room got to their feet.

“I think we were all knocked out,” I touched Alex’s head gently. “Does it hurt when I do this?”

She shook her head. “Not at all.”

“And let me look in your eyes.” I focused on her pupils. “They’re the same size, and nothing’s yellow, so I think you’re okay.”

Alex checked me, and declared me healthy also. We went to Barney’s side and shook him. “Wake up.”

Barney took a few moments waking up. I didn’t realise I wasn’t breathing until he opened his eyes.

“Where are we?” I demanded.

His head lifted, and he looked around us. Cold, breeze block walls, a single metal door and one slit of a window, barred. “No…” he groaned, squeezing his eyes back shut again. “No...kids...I didn’t ever want this to happen.”

“What does that mean?” Alex asked in a small voice, but I already knew the answer.

“It’s a camp.”

I heard Alex swear again.

Jane found us. His round face brimmed with tears. “I heard what you said,” he sobbed. “People who get taken in the camps never come out. We’re gonna die…” he wailed.

We’d already been caught; there was no point trying to quieten the boy.

“I ain’t known anyone what’s been taken in here,” Alex said. “Have you, Lola? Are they nice in your district?”

They were - relatively. I couldn’t say that, though, because all I was thinking was, I know where Greer and Indigo went.

I felt oddly lonely. Greer and Indigo were dead, then. There was nothing I could do about it.

The door opened, and three men stood there. Their uniform wasn’t IPF, but it was nothing I’d seen before. It was blue, not white, and the logo had an arrow going through the infinity sign. Who were they?

“You’ve had enough time in here,” one of them said, pointing a gun at us.

They pushed us out of the room - cabin, it turned out. We stood, blinking, in the Welsh sunshine. We were on a hill. Hills, grass, trees...all these things that were rare in our districts were here. We could see them beyond the metal fences rising eight feet high on every side, stretching out behind the watchtowers and pylons, buzzing softly. Menacingly.

Hundreds of people, their arms tattooed and their faces grim, lined up along the edges of the camp or were being pulled out of their makeshift tents. Most were dark-haired, plain and sombre, just blending in with the crowd, but one stood out. He had pink hair, a thin face and dark eyes that met mine. They were slightly creepy.

The not-IPF officers left us standing there. These people had obviously suffered an awful hardship, being sent here. We were going to stick out.

Barney put his arms around some of the children, and sat down. They all copied him. “Now, listen to me carefully,” he said. “Remember who the real enemy is. That is all.”

The pink-haired boy immediately came up to me. He stuck his hands in his pockets. “What’s a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?”

“I’m Lola,” I said. “Who--"

“Jason. And before you ask any questions, we’re busting out of here tonight. I have a friend on the outside.” He was swift to answer all of my questions...but one.

“Why are you trusting me so, already?” I demanded.

He ran a hand through his pink locks. “You’ve been marked.”

“Marked? No, I haven’t.”

He pointed to a place on my jawline. “Invisible to you...but I recognised it immediately.”

“What is it?”

“It says ‘help her’, it’s a pen mark. A code I’ve used in the past.” Jason traced the letters on my neck. “I knew what it meant - I’m guessing you haven’t seen it yet. It can’t have been you who wrote this. Is has to be JR.”

“You know JR?” I said, slightly incredulously. He was famous, then.

“Well, JR is the leader...was the leader,” Jason quickly corrected himself, “and if he says look after you, we look after you.”

I paused. “And my friends?”

“Yes. Definitely.”

“How do I know to trust you?” I asked. I’d had a sudden thought. Maybe Jason was one of the boys who’d been following us.

Jason sighed. “You can’t. But remember this - I’m on no one’s side. I just want peace.” He laughed. “Also I’m a good friend of JR.”

“Do you know Aron?” I snapped.

“Shut up,” Jason hissed. He had suddenly turned cold. “We can’t talk about Aron or JR really here, or any of the others.”

I ground my teeth. “You know the others? Why won’t anyone tell me anything?”

“Okay, here’s a deal.” Jason was really getting annoyed. “You go along with the plan, don’t talk about them at all, don’t get me executed and when we’re in the countryside I’ll tell you everything. Deal?”

I shook his hand. “What’s the plan?”

At five o’clock, it had already begun to get dark. Jason had generally been keeping himself to himself since he’d been taken there a month before, but now we had to network.

Alex and Barney seemed enthusiastic about the escape plan, but Jane was cautious. Eventually they all agreed to come with us on the promise that if we were caught, Jason and I got snitched on straight away. We needed them to be safe.

Jason was more successful, getting four people to agree, no questions asked. Admittedly, they were an elderly woman, her even older husband and their two granddaughters, but all in all it was satisfactory. We didn’t want to leave innocent people - none of them had actually done anything wrong - alone in the camp.

The names of the granddaughters were Caroline and Andrea. They were cousins, not sisters, and ‘done in’ for saying the word “communism” in the street. I was glad they knew a bit about what was going on.

We all met by the fence on the third shift - we couldn’t tell hours when the sun was in. Jason and I had to break into the warden’s cabin and get the pliers that Jason had spotted a couple of weeks ago.

“Ready?” Jason whispered. I still couldn’t pin down his accent, but now was not the time to be thinking of that.

A shrill siren cut through the night air - the old woman had started climbing the fence. She was less than mobile, but happy to sacrifice herself for Caroline and Andrea. Her husband reached out for the wire too.

Jason and I sprinted behind the cabin while the guards left to calm the situation down. Jason took a hairclip out of his hair and started unpicking the lock. Down the hill, more people had joined the elderly couple in the desperate attempt to escape.

“This wasn’t the plan,” I said in a low voice, while Jason struggled with the lock. He didn’t say anything, but a moment later the lock clicked and the door opened.

We went inside, and began a frantic search of all surfaces. “I was by this window,” Jason suddenly said, indicating the furthest window.

I lifted papers, while he scanned the windowsill. Nothing.

“They’re coming back,” I insisted.

Jason knocked some papers to the floor, saw the pliers and ran out of the door. People suddenly saw us, coming from every direction.

“It’s not going to work!” I screamed.

Jason held my arm. “Wait.”

Lights, car headlights, shone through the fences. Blinding, white light. I held up a hand to shield my eyes, but Jason pulled me towards the fence. We started cutting through the wire, blind, until a snap joined the new sounds of gunfire.

Caroline, Andrea, Alex and Barney carrying Jane all made their way, stumbling over the ground, to us and through the fence.

Gunfire was still echoing around the hills, people still falling from the towers and music blaring over the uproar.

Jason pushed me through the fence.

We weren’t quite free yet.

Dogs, deadly dogs with teeth like knives, turned the corner to face us. Jane began whimpering again, but Alex slapped his face.

“Don’t run,” Barney called to me and Jason, our backs against the fence as the dogs advanced on the two of us.

“The owner’s gonna come as well now,” Alex said. She came up to us, slowly, trying not to make a noise. It was easy enough when the battle was still raging inside the camp.

She grabbed the dogs’ collars, lifting them in the air.

I didn’t ask how she could do that, but sprinted to the nearest patch of trees. Alex threw the dogs into the camp and followed, Jason looking bewildered.

Once we’d got into the valley, we stopped for a minute. “Jason - where does your friend live?” I asked. “The one you said was outside.”

We were walking through the streets of some forgotten town. Windows were closed, doors slammed in our faces.

There was a figure at the end of the road. He had a long coat on, and was staring into the distance.

He turned.

It was JR.


	6. Six

I ran towards him and threw my arms around his neck.

“Hey there,” he said, laughing. “Miss me?”

“Shut up, I thought you were dead,” I said, trying to catch my breath and hug him at the same time. “I thought the IPF had got you, shot you or something.”

“They didn’t. Are you okay, you’re shaking.” JR looked at me.

I shook my head. “Shock, I guess. We just broke out of a camp.”

JR looked past me. “Jason.” He let go of me.

“I’m on no one’s side, you know,” Jason said, before the boys hugged.

Once we’d all been introduced, I said, “are we going to stay here tonight?”

“No,” JR glanced around. “In a few minutes this place will be swarming with the IPF; it’s a miracle you managed to get out like you did.”

Jason nodded. “It was risky. What do we do now?”

We decided to reach at least the next village before dawn, and if possible get further. We could sleep in a haystack for all I cared. A sudden wave of tiredness had swept over me. JR smiled at me.

“What’s the date?” I asked.

“I think it’s a Secondday, but I’m not sure,” he put an arm around me. “Do you trust me now?”

I lowered my voice. “Yes, but Jason? Who is he?”

“He got you out, didn’t he?” JR’s expression had turned sour.

“JR, please, tell me who he is,” I tugged on his arm.

“He’s Chinese, not Korean,” JR quickly said. “He says he’s on neither side, so he might swap over at any point but I think he’ll stick with us. He’s a nice guy, actually.”

I stopped asking him questions and walked with Alex. They had dragged Jane to his feet, and he was hardly walking at all.

“What’s wrong with that guy?” Alex ground her foot into the gravel or the road. “Why are you arguing?”

“Because-- Alex, do you have water?”

She didn’t, and I felt along my jawline. The mark was still there. I wondered when JR had given it to me, until I remembered falling asleep on our way out of District 9. Handy, huh?

We saw a sign saying that we were in District 22. The next village was far too close. The houses were all shut up, so we wearily went to the next.

The first house of the village was a pub. Too obvious to hide in, but probably one of many. Pubs were banned in District 10, because drinking affected the brain. I spotted a bed and breakfast - another liberal luxury - and suggested we stay there.

Dawn was breaking as JR, Jason, Alex and I crawled into bunk beds. We were tired out, even JR.

I think we slept all morning, and part of the afternoon. JR was watching me - he had the bunk opposite - when I woke up.

I closed my eyes, trying to get back to sleep, but then I realised what had woken me up.

Cars...outside the window.

JR dropped out of bed and began shaking Jason, who was below him. I did the same to Alex. JR pointed upwards.

I lay next to JR in his bunk, while Jason and Alex hid in the other top one. I focused on a spot on the wall behind JR, hoping against hope that the IPF officers and guards in the area wouldn’t look in the house.

JR found my hands and pressed them to his lips. “If this is goodbye…” he whispered--

BANG! The room’s door opened and two IPF officers stood there. I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my forehead into JR’s face. He put his arms around me. We were going to be discovered...going to be shot in front of Jason and Alex…

The nearest officer pulled back the covers and saw our legs. I felt a cool breeze on them, and knew that was my blood preparing to spill onto the carpet.

“No one under here!” a voice came from under the officer’s helmet.

I felt my skin burn, but my heart was in my throat still.

The officers rustled around and obviously discovered the others, but left the room.

JR was shaking, sobbing even. I opened my eyes again to see his leaking. I stroked his face, but all movement felt like I was dreaming.

“S’okay,” I murmured. “Okay, JR, not dead, not dead.”

I let him cry.

I wanted to cry with him, but for once the tears wouldn’t come.

He was a silent crier, not like me. If I could, I would wail.

Eventually, the cars moved on to the next village, and JR had cried himself out. I heard Alex and Jason moving around the room.

I lifted myself off the bed and went to the window. I felt empty and...shaky. I shivered. The window pane was cold.

Jason stood next to me, tracing patterns in the condensation. He breathed in and out, slowly. He was a noisy breather. “Why do you think they ignored us?”

I felt a lump in my throat and coughed. I buried my face in his shirt before I knew what I was doing. “They must think we’re...already dead.”

“Or maybe…” Jason sighed. “Maybe there are traitors in the IPF as well.”

“Traitors...you mean our allies.”

JR stood up. His shirt was crumbled and his eyes slightly red. “You okay, Lola?” he asked. Ignoring Jason, he shakily walked over to me.

“Fine,” I said, but even as I said it I felt myself shiver again. “We ought to leave.”

Alex joined us by the window. “We can buy food here and take it. Where--" she paused, “where are we going?”

“Away from the IPF and Aron’s gang,” JR replied.

“I have a question,” Jason turned to him. “That phone charger that Mi--"

JR cut across him swiftly. “Phones don’t work here, you idiot.”

“Don’t you remember?” Jason demanded. “Don’t you want to remember them? Apart from Aron?”

“I’ve spent the last three years trying to forget!” JR, on the brink of tears again, screamed.

Jason blinked. “I’m sorry. I’ve just missed them all since I’ve been in England.”

“They’re in England too,” I said. Jason glanced at me. “We’ve seen them. They were chasing us.”

Alex interrupted. “We should go cross-country for a while.”

We all nodded. I was glad that Alex had stopped the argument. We definitely should get moving.

We paid the landlord, and bought more food from him. JR asked to use my computer, which through surviving the camp and journey in the van was still working. I watched him search something, then delete the history. I wished I could see what he was typing, but I knew it was off bounds.

He looked hot now, tapping away at the computer. He rubbed his sweating neck. Obviously it was something tense. I found myself watching his every move. 

His eyes met mine, and I felt my face heat up. He knew I was watching him. I moved towards him and walked around to see the screen. He’d closed all the windows and just my background - Greer and Indigo - remained.

“Done?” I asked, but it was pretty obvious. My voice went all squeaky and I had to cough.

Bother, why was he so...difficult. I couldn’t find out anything about him, not from looking over his shoulder, not from heavily disguised questions. It was infuriating.

Oh well, I had secrets of my own.

“Did you find Indigo and Greer?” he looked at me.

I shook my head. “There are camps all over the country, if I had it would have been a near miracle.”

We set off.


	7. Seven

JR seemed satisfied that what he’d found on the computer was helpful. He walked along, smiling slightly. He didn’t smile that much anymore.

Alex was swearing at everything that she saw - she seemed happy too. Relieved. I wondered why she swore so much. She was only about twelve. Maybe it was the culture in District 9, but I’d never heard Barney use such bad language.

Briefly, I felt guilty about leaving Barney and Jane to go North, but they’d been insistent.

Jason ran a hand through his hair. As the oldest of our group, he seemed to want to take charge, but JR was the one leading the way.

“Leader,” Jason called, as JR indicated taking the right fork of a path, one that lead straight through some trees. Leader? He’d said that before too, to describe JR. Yet JR was younger, surely. “Don’t we want to be in open country?”

JR shook his head. “Most we’ll meet is a stray IPF officer, if that.” He looked at Jason. “They’re miles away, you see.”

I walked with JR, trying to make small talk. He picked up leaves from the ground and crumbled them in his hands.

“JR, what’s wrong?” I asked.

He turned to me, frowning. “Nothing’s wrong. It’s just...countryside. It’s a common occurrence in District 10.”

I laughed. I’d be able to write my stories more easily out here, in the fresh air. The towns were polluted and dangerous. IPF officers weren’t so bad where I came from, but they’d still confiscate (permanently) any book that wasn’t strictly school-related.

I was part of an illegal writers’ website, Wattpad, that had been started in Canada before the New World came to be. I wasn’t popular, but a few people read my books. It was the illegal sharing of information that the IPF hated. That’s exactly why I did it. It was my way of telling the few free countries that we were still alive, and fighting.

It was late, and getting later, when we discovered the boundary between District 22 and 25. A light drizzle had started over our heads.

JR offered me his coat, but I declined. I regretted it later, when I was soaked through, but he put his arm around me and covered me with the coat.

I really wanted to ask what was going to happen, but as I opened my mouth JR fell to the ground.

I pulled Alex down to the mud.

JR was writhing in pain, clutching his left leg. Jason dropped next to him and held the leg.

I crawled, low down, towards my friend. He looked like he was having some kind of seizure.

“What --" I started, but lights fell on us. A torch, winding its way towards us.

I got up, staggering towards the source of the light.

A girl with dyed blonde hair falling over her eye was holding the torch. Her eyes filled with tears when she saw me, and she put her arms around me.

“Good work, Ren.” A voice came from behind her.

“Ren?” I tried to pull away, but the girl held me tighter.

Aron came through the trees. Aron. With him were two others, and the girl made four.

JR raised his head. “Aron, aah, that’s low…” He trailed off as the pain in his leg grew.

A boy with hair in his eyes pulled me away from Ren. He gripped my arm too tightly and I growled. Alex was being lifted over the head of a boy with muscled arms and spiked white hair, screaming.

“Shut up,” the girl said, hitting Alex. She had a startlingly deep voice.

“Jason.” Aron had seen the oldest boy stand up.

Jason brushed himself down in a dignified way. “I’m on no one’s side, Aron,” he said clearly. “By the way, how did you get the tagger?”

Ren was pulling something out of JR’s leg. “It’s not ours,” she said. “There are IPF in the area - we’re saving you.”

“Like...we’ll believe...that…” JR moaned. Taking the tag out seemed to hurt even more.

“I’m not strong enough to take him,” Ren said.

“I can’t let go,” said the boy holding me. “This one’s a wriggler.” I was trying to escape his grip or stand on his foot, or maybe even punch him, but he was so tall I couldn’t reach.

“Baekho!” Ren called to the boy holding Alex. He shook his head - Alex was struggling too.

Aron took hold of JR’s shoulders and Ren took the feet. Jason refused to help.

The boy holding me - Minhyun, the others were calling him - put an arm around my stomach.

“Don’t you dare put your hands on her!” JR roared.

“Shut up!” Aron slapped him straight across the face. “I don’t want to get caught by the IPF. Get moving,” he ordered the other boys.

We were taken to a house not far from the border, surrounded by woodland on one side and open fields the other. Aron unlocked the door and we went in.

It wasn’t the tidiest place I’d ever seen. There were some clothes lying on the floor, magazines and books covering one table and ornaments stacked on the windowsill and mantlepiece. Aron placed the injured JR on a sofa and sent Ren to get a medical kit. Minhyun lifted me over his shoulder and carried me upstairs.

The room was bare apart from a large bed. Minhyun lowered me onto it, then left, locking the door after Baekho had dragged Alex, still kicking, inside.

As soon as the door closed, she ran to the window and tried to open it. She tugged for a moment, but then her hand slipped and grated itself along the handle. The window was stuck shut.

I tried the door, but we’d both heard the key turn in the lock.

I heard screaming, frantic screaming, from downstairs. It sounded like JR.

I banged on the door, shouting. They couldn’t be hurting him...they couldn’t…

“Shut up, you stupid idiot!” Baekho came back in and took my arm. I winced - that’s where Minhyun had twisted it.

He forced me out of the door, locking Alex in again, and into another room. He slammed the door but didn’t lock it.

“They’re just trying to heal the cut,” he said in a low voice. “You know how duct-gel hurts.”

I nodded, and Baekho continued.

“I’m not gonna hurt you. I never want to hurt you. Okay, what’s your name?”

“Lola,” I said. “Didn’t Aron tell you that?”

Baekho started pacing. “No. He’s evil. What JR did was three years ago.” He stopped walking. “Lola, whose side are you on?”

“Whatever side JR is on,” I sighed. “Sorry, but I don’t really know you.”

“It’s okay.” He smiled. “I’m on his side as well. I think Aron and Ren have born this grudge for far too long. And I think we could get Minhyun on our side as well.”

“He hurt my arm,” I whined. It wasn’t my fault I whined, I was tired out with all the running, deceit and lies.

Baekho nodded. “I’m sorry about that. You have to understand, though, that you can’t go against Aron.”

“You are.”

“Yeah.” He shrugged.

“So what happens now?”

Baekho threw a small packet of something to me. “Rice. Eat it, then sleep.”

“That’s all?”

“I’ll talk to Minhyun.”

“And JR?”

“He’ll be fine.”

I walked to the single, barred window. “What did he do? Why is Aron angry with him?”

Baekho turned to go. “Lola, I don’t think you’d want to hear.”

“He’s my friend.”

“You wouldn’t be able to look him in the eye if you knew what ... what he probably did.”

“Probably?”

“Sleep, Lola.”


	8. Eight

I woke to late morning light. The clock I hadn't noticed the night before read 11:53. Fun.

There was the sound of a key in a lock, and the door swung open again to reveal Baekho. He looked different in the daytime - more friendly.

He pressed a finger to his lips. "I'm supposed to take you to the toilet."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. Where's JR?"

"Out of Aron's sight. Probably chucked into the void."

"Void?"

"Under the kitchen."

I followed him out of the door and through to a small bathroom. It wasn't dirty. The house was generally quite well kept, I'd noticed.

A few minutes and a plea for a toothbrush later, I was back on the landing. Baekho had disappeared for just a second, but that was enough. I crouched by the banisters and started listening.

The sound of a slap and a few words in a language I didn't understand. I bit my lip. So much for finding out why we were there - I didn't speak a word of Korean.

I felt a hand on my back and almost cried out. The tall boy - the one who'd hurt my arm - was standing there.

"Back to your room," he said hesitantly. Was he worried about my eavesdropping or just struggling with the language?

"No?" I experimented, cocking my head to one side.

"Room, now." He touched my shoulder gently. "Where does it hurting? I mean, I am sorry for--"

"Minhyun." I caught his arm. "What are they doing to JR? What did he do? Why do they hate--"

Minhyun looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car. "Do not ask ... about Jonghyun."

"Who's Jonghyun?"

"Don't tell her."

Another boy had appeared under the stairs, and I recognised him as Aron. He spoke again. "Minhyun, how is she out here?" It was calm, unlike his face.

Minhyun mumbled something that could have been an apology.

Aron shrugged. "Lock her up again. JR obviously cares about her - she'll be a bargaining tool."

I'd had enough.

I flung an elbow into Aron's snarling face, turned, and raised my hand again to Minhyun.

He shook his head.

"Re--" Aron's voice suddenly cut off as a hand clamped over his mouth. I glanced back to see Baekho pinning Aron to the wall. Aron made a hand gesture I translated as traitors.

"Pleased to meet you," Minhyun said, holding out an arm. "We're on the same side now."

"Freedom?"

"Anarchy. Self-government."

Baekho clicked his tongue. "Ren," he instructed Minhyun.

I peered through the banisters again. I could see a pair of feet pacing below, and that gave me a good idea of who was downstairs. Jason.

"We're getting Jonghyun out," Minhyun whispered, before walking casually down the stairs. "Hey, Ren."

I missed the rest of the exchange - it was in Korean - and turned back to Baekho. "What's--"

"There's rope in that room. Get it," he ordered.

As we tied up Aron, I felt a strange connection to Baekho. He was the first friendly face, apart from JR's, that I'd seen since we left my parents. Minhyun's expression seemed too far from inviting.

"What is happening? Why does everyone hate JR?" I demanded.

Baekho's expression turned. "Shut up!"

"Tell me."

We glared at each other until he sighed. "Fine. But you have to promise not to freak out, or do anything illogical."

"I promise."

"This was in the past, you know..."

I crossed my arms.

"He stabbed Aron's girlfriend."


	9. Nine

JR was in a bad way when we found him. My head was still reeling, and seeing him bruised and scratched made everything even more surreal.

“JR?” I muttered.

He covered his face. “Dongho...told you…” he groaned. I could only assume that Dongho was Baekho.

“That I’m friends with a killer? Yeah.” I watched Baekho lifting JR’s thin blanket off his ankles to feel them.

“I didn’t intend to--"

“Were you angry? Is that the reason?” I walked towards him. “Do you let your emotions run away with you?”

“No!” JR choked on his word.

“Leave this till we get outside, huh?” Baekho said.

JR wasn’t nearly weak enough to be unable to walk. Minhyun brought Alex down from the first floor, and it was almost ridiculously easy to stroll out of the front door.

Almost.

Ren was chopping wood outside of the house. “Aron!” he screamed.

I was reminded how feminine he looks.

“Leave him,” JR said. He glanced at Minhyun and Baekho. “Do we leave you here?”

“Leave me,” Baekho winked. “I’ll bear whatever punishment.”

“Are you sure?” Minhyun asked. For once, his face seemed to be showing emotion. He looked worried.

Baekho stroked his cheek. “I’ll need to warn you ahead of any actions against you four they may attempt. You have the radio?”

“Yes.” Minhyun stared at the floor. “Don’t get hurt.”

Before any of us knew it, their lips were touching.

Minhyun pulled away quickly, blushing like a teenager with her first love. “Baekho!” he hissed. “It’s nothing, nothing’s happening between us, we’re just--"

“Min, we’re fine with it,” JR said. “We just need to get going.”

Minhyun stared around at the rest of us one last time, then kissed Baekho again. “Bye.”

Baekho sprinted back to the house.

“Ready?” Alex asked, handing me a bottle of water.

“Yes.”

The trees parted after a few minutes of running. The landscape was green and-

“Is that a railway track?” Minhyun shouted. JR hushed him, and it was fascinating to watch.

Minhyun, Baekho and Jason had all followed every word he said.

He was their leader.

“There they are!” I heard Ren’s scream again behind us. They were two hundred metres into a dense patch of trees.

“Run!”

We didn’t need JR’s order to tumble down the hill. Alex stumbled, but Minhyun managed to pull her back into the pace.

I reached the railway track first, just as there was a burst of gunfire. Aron and Ren were shooting at us. How did they get weapons? Jason, not far behind, was more hesitant.

A loud hoot.

That wasn’t anything human.

It was a train.

JR and Alex had noticed too, as they half-fell onto the track beside me.

“What the hell does Minhyun think he’s doing?” JR yelled, pulling us behind a pile of something black.

It became obvious in three seconds more. Minhyun took a flying leap at an iron bridge, landing two metres away from a gaping hole in the middle. He glared at us.

“Lola!”

I didn’t care who’d called. The bridge wasn’t far away.

The grass beside me exploded.

The guns were still a very real threat.

With a shout, JR followed. He was trying to distract the rapidly approaching Aron from me.

I reached the bridge.

“The girl.” Minhyun frowned as he pulled me up. “Aron’s got her.”

JR must have seen that too, but Minhyun forced him to scramble up. “We can’t do anything to help.”

JR looked like he might hit him. “We have to get Alex.”

“Too late,” I said. The gunfire had stopped. Jason was holding Alex weakly, but she wasn’t stupid. If she ran, she’d be shot. “The train’s coming.”

“Get ready to jump,” JR and Minhyun said at the same time. They rolled their eyes.

“Don’t you dare run away!” Aron squawked. He raised his gun again.

“Jump and lie low,” I insisted.

JR nodded. He was the first to drop, landing on his stomach on the top of the train. Minhyun gave me the thumbs up, before we were both tumbling through the air to a painful surface. Aron screamed in anger and began shooting towards us.

Somehow, JR crawled over the roof to us. “Lola,” he said quickly. “I didn’t kill her. Yooyoung. Aron’s girlfriend.”

I flinched as he tried to put his arms around me. “What happened then?”

“I want to know, too,” Minhyun said.

JR sighed. “Do you remember the day, Min? It was hot and we were all lying on the lawn. Then Yooyoung said she wanted a drink, and went off to the kitchen.” He closed his eyes. His breathing was becoming irrational. “I wanted a drink too, so I followed her. And she was there with the biggest knife poised by her chest.” Tears began dripping down his cheeks. “She asked me if I would help her with something, so I walked over - stupid, stupid - and--" He broke down into sobs. “She took my hands and placed them over the handle of the knife...I didn’t want to…” Minhyun’s fingers began rubbing JR’s back. “...she pushed it in.”

I found tears on my hands. I didn’t know whether they were mine or JR’s, but I was by his side without knowing it.

Minhyun swore. “Then you came out of the kitchen and said--"

“‘She’s dead, she’s dead, and I killed her.’” I wasn’t quite sure if JR was remembering the words, or blaming himself now.

Probably both.

“And then, at court, I was going to defend myself.” JR bent his head. “But I ran and I ran and I found myself in England.” He shook his head. “You know, Ren and I had a bet on whether you and Baekho would get together. He owes me.”

“Way to change the subject.” Minhyun flicked JR’s forehead. “I never liked Yooyoung, you know. She was quite rude.”

“None of us did.” JR shrugged. “I don’t even think Aron liked her.”

“Then why is he hunting you down?” I wondered.


	10. Ten

“ID please.”

My nose was digging in JR’s shoulder. Our bodies were pressed together in the small compartment but is would be more than unwise to let the ticket inspector know we weren’t meant to be there.

“Just in case she asks, what do we say we were doing?” JR breathed in my ear.

“Erm, we were making out?” We laughed, and both mimed sticking our fingers down our throats.

“Never,” JR mumbled.

“Turn and face me,” I ordered. He shuffled round, and I began wiping his eyes.

There was a loud knock on the door. “Are you alright in there?” a voice called.

Just as JR was about to say, “fine,” I made pathetic retching noises.

I poked JR.

“Sorry, we’ll be out in a minute,” he replied through the door.

“No, it’s alright,” the inspector called back. “Stay in there. We don’t want you contaminating the other passengers.”

Contaminating? She sounded like this was a procedure.

Like she’d told many people to stay there so they didn’t spread whatever disease they had.

We heard her speaking into a radio.

“We should have gone with the making out idea.”

“We would still have been asked for ID. Now we’re just diseased. No one’s gonna touch us.” I smiled triumphantly.

“Do you ever think of anyone but yourself?” JR ran the tap and splashed water on his face. “Like what’s gonna happen to Alex?”

“They’re your friends. What is gonna happen?”

He looked at his shoes. “They weren’t exactly my friends.”

“What then?”

He looked around, before hissing in my ear, “they were my bandmates. I was a rapper in South Korea. They are singers.”

“Wow.” I knew my eyes were widening. “Were you good? You’ll have to show me some time.”

“We were okay,” he said. “I was probably the worst in the group.”

“This is why you don’t like music?” I asked.

“I couldn’t deal with it anymore.” He rubbed his eyes. “Yooyoung was a singer too.”

We had to stay in the toilet cubicle until we reached London. I could only think of Minhyun, who Aron had supplied with suitable ID, and who would not have been able to see us from his seat.

“You knew that Baekho and Minhyun would get together?” My face was squashed up to JR’s. Trust my enormous height.

“They always seemed like a couple.”

“Alright, out, out!” There was a shout from outside the train. We had arrived at the station.

It was nothing like we’d expected.

It was pandemonium.

My home district was clean, ordered and, for the most part, deserted.

This was the complete opposite.

The passengers scrambling off our train joined the nearly thousand-strong crowd at the station. There were screaming people, those hurrying to wherever they were meant to be with cloths pressed to their faces, those covered in yellowed newspaper and string asleep by the columns, those watching their children throw rocks and hold knifes.

“You’re not going out there,” a man to my left said. A mask was pressed over my mouth. “Breathe, breathe…”

~~~

I woke on my back, in a completely red room. A man - a doctor - was leaning over me. “She’s clean,” he announced. “False alarm. You can turn the lights off.”

The red lights disappeared and I was left with a dull blue image in my eyes.

Tired.

“Welcome to London,” a nurse said to me, as if sensing my confusion.

“W-where am I?” I stopped talking as my voice cracked.

“London hospital.” He walked towards me. “Good news, you’re not infected and we’re gonna let you go.”

“Good.”

“When you give us your identification that you are legally allowed to be here and to travel.”

There were only two things to do. Firstly, run away. This was not a good idea. I didn’t know how to get out, or if there were armed guards or whatever by my room. Also, they would know that I was here illegally.

Secondly, fake amnesia. It would be hard to pull off, but easier than running on an empty stomach. I wasn’t even sure I could stand.

“Was it not in my back pocket?” I asked innocently.

“No.”

“I-I don’t remember what happened to it.”

“We get an average of forty-two faked amnesias a day.”

“Where’s the boy I came in with?”

“He woke up five minutes ago, and is being discharged as we speak.”

“Can I-?”

“No. You’re gonna be imprisoned if you move a muscle.”

I yawned. “What about my heart? Can I move that? That’s a muscle.”

The slap came hard and fast.

~~~

The street I was rudely shoved into was quieter than the station, and darker. There were only a few people in it, women spitting come hither eyes at passers-by and ragged children coughing.

JR was smoking on the street corner. My eyebrows rose. “H ey. Why are you not covering your face?”

“Stupid idiots,” he said, tapping the cigarette against the wall. “This’ll kill me before the plague does. They don’t realise it’s spread by water. It’s obvious, with the symptoms and affected areas.”

“Tell them?”

“They won’t believe me.”

“At least try!” I yelled, knocking the cigarette out of his hand.

He scowled. “That was my first since I came to England.”

“I don’t give a--"

“Hey.” A nurse snapped at us. “We don’t hold for your kind round here. Go away, or shut up.”

JR held my wrist, nails cutting into the skin, and jerked us into a fast walking pace. “We’d better get on with people, and leave London as soon as possible.”

Winding streets, broken, boarded up windows and plague-ridden, screaming children followed us until there were just cobbles and the river. The skeleton of what looked like a funfair ride, burnt out, creaked omninously.

“I miss it,” JR said suddenly. I hadn’t noticed we’d stopped walking. “I miss the Old World.”

“As do I,” I added. “As my parents miss the 1980s and as the next generation will miss now.”

“Who would miss now?” JR laughed hollowly. “I’m two minutes away from throwing myself into the river and drowning.”

I rested my head on his shoulder awkwardly. “It’s called the Thames.”

“I know.”

“I hate everything.”

“So do I.”

I coughed. “Do you know where Minhyun and Alex went?”

“We’re never gonna see them again.”

“Why?”

“They’re gonna drink the water.” He straightened his back. “They’re gonna drink the water! Hey, hey, stop!” He had run to the river’s edge. “Min! Don’t drink it!”

There they were, Minhyun tall and dark, Alex grinning. “Come over on the bridge!” she called.

As soon as we reached them, JR demanded whether they’d drunk anything, or eaten, or been coughed at. Satisfied, he hugged Minhyun.

~~~

Unknown to Aron, Baekho had switched on the radio behind the sofa, and JR, Minhyun, Alex and I could hear every word he said. Every blow he delivered to Baekho’s body until he cried out for Minhyun, saying that it wasn’t for JR that he’d betrayed Aron, that it was just because he was blindly in love with their visual that he was desperate to prove he could do whatever Minhyun wanted.

“Unconditional love,” Ren said scathingly. “Something Aron wouldn’t know anything about.”

“What do you mean?” Aron snarled.

Ren scoffed. “You’ve been so caught up in the search for Yooyoung’s killer that you haven’t take one shred of notice in the affections of the person who is alive and in love with you.”

“Who?” Aron asked dumbly.

“Me, you dick.”

“You?”

“And JR never laid a hand on Yooyoung. She killed herself. They’re both right-handed, and the knife went in from where only someone left-handed or herself could have done it. You saw the report.”

“What?” Aron muttered weakly. When Ren made to leave, he grabbed his hand. “Don’t go.”

“You can’t order me around anymore.” Ren smiled. “I really love you, but you are a dick.”

~~~

JR turned off the radio. He was shaking. “Do you have a picture of her anywhere?” he asked Minhyun, who shook his head. “I want to pay my respects. I never got to.”

“They were all burned.”

“Of course.”

Alex got to her feet. “We’re leaving London, right? I can’t live in a dying city.”

“Yeah. Let’s follow the river,” I said.


	11. Epilogue

They listened to the radio for a few minutes more, then started the long walk out of London. Lola held JR's hand, whispering something in his ear.

"I'm not Lola anymore. I'm a boy. A man. I'm Chan. I've found out your secret, so there's mine."

JR smiled and gave his hand a squeeze. "You're leaving Lola here?"

"Yeah," Chan said. "I can't deal with being her a second longer. I'm a man."

He would never get to be a boy, for real. He couldn't change his legal gender and physically he would stay the same, but growing older, day by day.

He wouldn't see his parents for ten years.

They heard that Jane died two winters later.

Alex went on to lead a major revolutionary movement, and JR worked treating plague victims.

And when, eventually, JR faced Aron again, they sobbed in each other's arms. They hated hating each other.


End file.
